The museum scene in Zagreb has had its ups and downs in the past 10 years. Older citizens kept going to art exhibits, but the habit of going to museums changed when it comes to younger people. Zagreb had to do something about it because the cultural scene of a city is a very important part of its urban culture and development. All kinds of museums started to spring in Zagreb. Just thinking about it, a few of them come to mind, like for instance, Museum of Broken Relationships, "Tortureum" ( museum of torture), Museum of Illusions, and Ferdinand Budicki Automobile Museum. This article is about a similar, unusual museum. The 80's Museum.

Photo Credit: Ksenia Sycheva/Zagreb 80’s Museum

Explore the 80's

It is located on the first floor of an old building in a historical part of town, at Radićeva Street 34 and it works from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its windows are offering a unique scenery of some of the Zagreb's most famous landmarks. The main idea of the museum is a recreation of a past time. Its main purpose is to show how an average family from Zagreb lived in the 80's. The museum offers a unique and interesting way of interacting with the past while also showing a future. Something like the legendary movie "Back to the future." This museum is also special because you can feel right at home here. Everybody is welcome to interact with everything in it - children, families, friends, grown-ups, students, the retired. 

Photo Credit:Ksenia Sycheva/Zagreb 80’s Museum

Black & White World

The exhibits will take you on a journey through one of the most memorable decades in Croatia's history. Younger people, born after the 80's might have a hard time understanding what is so special about that period of recent history. My suggestion is watching a great Croatian Tv show about those exact time, called "Crno-bijeli svijet" (Black & White World, 2015) by Goran Kulenović and Igor Mirković. Despite not being born in those times, that show really showed me the spirit of the time, and that is what, in my opinion, was the idea of the museum owners. That specific TV series depicts the 80's in Zagreb on an unbelievable level. From cars and styling to the interior. That last part is what the 80's museum is concentrated on the most. It offers an array of rooms you could find in any average Zagreb apartment in the 80's. There's a comfortable living room, warm kitchen, a charming bedroom and even the home office. I think you can really feel at home in this large, time machine. 

Photo Credit: Ksenia Sycheva/Zagreb 80’s Museum

The not so usual museum

Apart from not being a standard museum with the stuff you are generally used to seeing in the museum such as art exhibits, paintings or statues it also has an opposite "touching the exhibits" policy in comparison to other museums. Even the so-called different museums I talked about in the introduction of this article don't usually let you touch the exhibits and interact with them. 

Zagreb 80's Museum is encouraging its visitors to touch, feel and communicate with the exhibit itself. All that to recall the moments, the smell and to feel the nostalgia of that time. For those who are unable to remember the 80's on account of not being born yet have a unique possibility of evoking a feeling of a time they never experienced. The most interesting part for them might be the depiction of the technology of that period like old televisions, video games, personal computers, and cell phones. This is a great opportunity for parents to show them a real life "save icon" as the younger generations call the floppy disk. 
Every object in the museum tells its private story and a unique background, offering even more information about the romantic times of the 80's. In addition to all this, the 80's museum offers another feature, and that is the possibility of buying some memorabilia in the form of a retro erotic calendar for 2018 and a variety of collectible models of mini Zastava 750 cars and many more. 

So there you have it. Whether you want to experience the 80's for the first time or you just want to relive them, the Zagreb 80's museum is the place to be. 

Photo Credit: Ksenia Sycheva/Zagreb 80’s Museum

Header Image Credit: Ksenia Sycheva/Zagreb 80’s Museum

Author: Tibor Trupec